Within Castle Walls
by neko-nya
Summary: In the world of Ethine, four demon hunters go about on their jobs until the demons start acting strange...and htey find things out that should've never been found out about... DarkxKrad SatxDai
1. Track 001

Within Castle Walls

Track001:

_Before…_

The demon let out a loud growl as the blade pierced its skin, the figure jumped back and smirked, "My…these demons are getting tougher to fight aren't they?"

Another figure leapt ahead of him, daggers ready in hand, "It's just your imagination."

He pouted, "You never agree with me! I swear, you're doing that just to be rebellious!"

"And you just noticed?"

"Daggers won't piece through their skin."

His companion rolled his eyes and stuck them back in their hilts on hiswaist and drew out a sword from behidn him, "You could've told me _earlier_."

Frowning, he allowed his swords to slice off the creature's head with little trouble, "There has to be _someone_ who agrees with me!" Then an arrow zinged past him, nearly hitting him, "Oi! Daisuke! Are you trying to kill me?"

The redhead frowned, "Sorry! But I do agree with you! It's like they're starting to team up or something!"

"Ha! Take that Krad! Someone agrees with me!"

The blonde growled and stabbed his blade into the monster beneath him, "Satoshi?"

"Don't get _me_ involved." The blue haired boy pulled his own sword out of the demon's stomach in front of him.

"_Satoshi._" Krad frowned.

"Fine, if I _had _to pick sides, it wouldn't be with Dark, he's usually wrong anyways."

The blonde shot his friend a smirk back, Dark frowned, "That was cheap."

"What? It's the truth."

"How much money do you think we'll get from this herd?"

"At least 60 gin…maybe 20 kin?"

"Alright! We're going to feast tonight!"

Krad raised a brow, "That is _if _Satoshi-keeper-of-our-money allows it."

"What a pain in the ass…"

Blue eyes narrowed, "I'm not deaf you know."

"Hey creep, what are these called again?"

"Rotadergs."

"…what?"

He rolled his eyes, "Rotadergs, sand demons that feed on humans."

Dark blinked, "Alright, whatever, you're checking in, I have no idea what you just said."

Daisuke shot another arrow hitting the demon in the eye, it shrieked and fell over, "I think that's the last of them."

Krad jumped from one corpse to the other and counted the number of dead demons on the ground, "Seven."

He removed his goggles, "Really? That's all? I could've sworn there were more…"

"Yea that's all Dark, why would I lie about this?"

"True…wait, would that mean you lie about other things?"

The blonde just smirked and walked off, "You're taking the head."

The teen gaped, "Me? Why me again?"

Krad just waved his hand offhandedly, "I did it last time and Daisuke's too small to carry it and Satoshi's also too small."

Dark frowned and cut the head off one of monsters, holding it by the ear, he tossed it over his shoulder to where his swords were, "Ugh…this is disgusting…"

"I know, I can tell just by looking."

"You know a little help would be nice Krad…the blood's dripping onto my boots…"

The blonde looked back, "I'm wearing white, Dark…blood isn't easy to clean off."

Daisuke just smiled, "Come on, let's go…I have sand in my hair."

Dark raised a brow, "Well…considering we were just fighting in a _desert_…I'm pretty sure we _all _have sand in our hair. And now I have green blood on my gloves…I don't think my wyvern's going to like having blood dripping on it's back…" He looked up at his wyvern and sighed, "Kokuyoku's going to hate me…"

"See? It'd be worse for Ginyoku, he hates to be dirtied up even more than your wyvern." He looked up at his pegasus and took off his glove to stroke its muzzle before getting on. "Come on Ginyoku, before he tries to make us take the head…again." The winged horse whinnied and flew off with the blonde on its back.

Satoshi just rolled his eyes and got onto his griffin, "Let's go Kinyoku…" The beast crooned affectionately and took off.

The redhead just laughed, "Sorry Dark, I'd help if I could but like Krad said, I'm too small," He watched as a phoenix landed in front of him, it fixed its feathers and stared at the other teen, "Akayoku says sorry too!" And as he flew off another creature joined him, "With! You're here too?"

The raven-like creature gave a 'kyu' and flew beside the phoenix.

Dark and his dragon stared at each other, it snorted at him and let him climb on, "Don't give me attitude…I can't believe they all just ditched me like that! I mean the creep I can understand, but Krad and Daisuke?" The wyvern flapped its wings and gave a low growl, "Impatient aren't you? Let's go catch up to them, we'll show them!" It gave a loud roar of approval and raced across the sky until the phoenix and griffin came into sight.

"Hey Dark! You finally caught up!"

But the dragon zoomed right past them, Dark looked back and stuck his tongue out, Satoshi glared while Daisuke pouted, the two urged their creatures to go faster. The violet haired boy grinned, "Next time…I'm chucking the head at them…"

Soon, a pegasus came into sight, Krad looked back, "He's gaining on us! Let's go!" The horse whinnied and began to fly faster.

Amethyst eyes widened slightly before frowned, "Krad! Wait up!"

The blonde's voice shot back, "No! Last time you threw the head at us!" And he sped up even more.

"Awww…come on Krad! I promise I won't do it again!"

"No!"

So the four of them sped towards the town with the pegasus in the lead, wyvern following close after. They landed on the outskirts of the town where they got off their rides and watched them take off, they walked in with Krad keeping his distance away from Dark. "Krad…you're being paranoid…"

The blonde just grumbled, "Why does the place have to be so far away?" He received no answer.

The four entered the backdoor of a café-like restaurant and ventured down the stairs by the door. And through another door they went through, the bell on top jingling as they did, "Well if it isn't the foolhardy four."

"Hi to you too." Dark said with a grin.

The brunette gave a small grin, "What do you have with you this time?"

"We got seven…"

"Rotadergs." Satoshi filled in for him.

The girl whistled, "Not bad…you can toss the head in the back, Dark…"

He did as he was told, "I hate having to carry the heads…" Amethyst scanned over his gloves in disgust.

"I'd hate to get stuck with the job too."

Dark snorted, "You're so sympathetic, Riku-chan."

"Aren't I always? Here's you money and you can ask Risa to fix you something up to eat, it's on the house…just this once though."

The four nodded their thanks and headed up, "Ugh…it's going to take forever to get this blood off…"

Satoshi looked at the pouch in his hands, "This ought to be enough to last for awhile…no we're not going to have a feast."

The violet haired boy pouted, "Asshole…"

The brunette behind the counter smiled, "Dark-san! You guys are back!"

"So we are."

"What did you slaughter this time?"

"Uhhh…"

"Rotadergs." Satoshi filled in for him again.

"Yea, that's what we killed…"

Risa smiled, "So, what would you four like? Not too much though, Riku's going to have a fit if you do…the usual?"

"The usual." The four replied.

After they finished their meal and were outside again, the sun had begun to set, Satoshi raised a brow, "She has such a crush on you…"

"Why would you say that?"

"No, none of us noticed the extra food on your plate…"

Dark smirked proudly, "But of course I mean who could resist _my _charm?" The other three raised their hands wordlessly and continued walking, he pouted, "That's just cruel, and you're lying Krad, you know you love me."

"That doesn't mean your charm has any affect on me."

"So you _do_ love me!" He ran over and gave the blonde a hug.

"Argh! Get off me! You're getting blood all over me!"

The other boy grinned, "I know."

Golden eyes narrowed when he looked at himself covered in splotches of green, "Ass…"

Satoshi just continued walking with the redhead by his side, "We just need to get more arrows then we can take the rest of the day off."

"Where are we staying this time?" The redhead asked inquisitively.

"Today's a nice enough day to stay there."

Dark smirked, "I never did like staying in stuffy lodges…except when it rains, then everything just gets annoying…"

The blonde sighed, "All the monsters from the swamp area and forest area become more active…"

"Those demons are _so_ annoying…"

"You got that right…"

--------------------

The four lounged around in an oasis quite far from the town, the elder two at the pond trying to wash their clothes off while the redhead dipped his head into the water. Satoshi sat by the fire roasting their reedmice. Dark came back soon after, having given up on washing the blood off his cloak, "Oh well…good enough, the green doesn't show anymore…" He hung his clothing up to dry off and walked over to his swords to clean them.

That earned him a glare from Krad who was practically ripping his white cloak trying to get the green off. The redhead leaned back onto the grass, hair still dripping wet, he reached for his goggles and put it on so it hung loosely from his neck, "The water's great!"

"I can tell, remember? I was washing my cloak and gloves in there…maybe I should wash my pants too…" He stretched allowing his sleeveless shirt to roll up a bit exposing a trim stomach. The four of them wore the same clothes underneath their cloaks, a grayish-black sleeveless and cargo pants. They had their own set of goggles, gloves and cloak of course, each with a different color to mark who they belonged to.

The redhead turned red and covered his eyes, "Oh gods the images! I'm going blind!"

Krad chuckled as he lifted up his wet cloak from the water, "Finally…it's clean…poor Daisuke, look at what you've done to him Dark!"

"I can only assume you're in a good mood."

The blonde smiled, "How'd you guess? Despite you getting rotaderg blood all over me and everything else that's happened today, I'm feeling pretty good."

"That's nice to know."

"Yea, otherwise you'd be dead right now." Satoshi smirked.

"I would not! Krad wouldn't kill me!"

Golden eyes darted over to the violet haired boy, "How can you be so sure?" He used his cloth and wiped his blade clean, "I've killed more than just demons with these you know…"

Dark walked over with a smile, "Because you love me." He gave the blonde a kiss and sat down.

Satoshi looked away in disgust, "Can you not do that here? In front of me?"

Daisuke still had his hands over his eyes therefore remained blind to the events, and began to giggle, "Ignorance is bliss."

"I'd cover my eyes too but then you don't want dinner to get burnt now do you?"

"No, I suppose not."

Dark huffed, "Anyways, no matter where we do this you're going to see, there isn't exactly a room here."

The blue haired boy frowned and grumbled, "The least you could do is do that behind my back…the rats are done."

The blonde wrinkled his nose a bit, "Rats? Couldn't you call them something more…appetizing? Rodents? Food? Cuisine?"

"I'm just calling them what they are."

"No you're not, they're reedmice not rats. Rats are those pesky creatures that run around the city market."

The violet haired boy took a bite of his, "That's why towns are better…Levgar town wasn't that bad, Risa-chan's cooking's really good."

"_But_, it's in the middle of the desert."

He sighed, "That's true…deserts, home of dirt demons."

"It's sand Dark…_sand_."

"Whatever." In a distance they heard barking, Dark gave a little smile, "Sounds like there are furlings around here. Kokuyoku would love to have one…"

Daisuke frowned, "Dark…that's disgusting…furlings are so cute and harmless too. They make nice pets too."

"So do wyverns."

-------------------

The fire was slowly dying with random crackles every now and then, Krad looked over the desert, in a distance he could see it, The Sinodia Castle…the glowing castle, dead center in the middle of the continent, able to look over everything. No one had ever ventured into the castle, those who did didn'tcome back out. A figure sat down beside him, he looked over with an unreadable expression on his face, "I see your gloves have dried."

"Yup."

"Don't you ever take those goggles off? If they're not on, they're dangling on your neck or on your head."

"I like them."

"I can tell…you like you swords too."

Dark nodded, "Why shouldn't I? Twin blades are hard to come by, especially ones as nice as these." He tilted his head back and nodded at the pair of sword hilts that crossed on the back of his nearly-dry cape. "Besides, from they make my cloak look really cool. What about you Mr. Many-weapons? What's your favorite?"

The blonde looked over at his small pile of weapons resting by a tree, "My daggers…"

"Yea, they make you look sexy." Krad blushed and smacked his friend on the head, "Ow…what was that for? You know I like you!"

"You know I like you too, pipe down, you're going to wake the other two."

"My bad…"

"Hn."

The hunter sighed and drew his knee up a bit, "What do you think we're going to come across tomorrow?"

"What am I? A fortune teller?"

"You could be."

"Whatever." There was a pause between the two, "Hey Dark…"

"Yea Kraddy-kins?"

"Don't call me that."

"Whatever you say Kraddy-kins."

The blonde huffed, "What do you think is in those castle walls?"

"I don't know…so long as it doesn't mess with me, I'm not going to wonder."

"That's a first."

"What is?"

"You not being curious about something you don't know about."

"Well this isn't the type of stuff for me to be curious about."

Krad raised a brow and looked over at his companion, moonlight illuminating his features, "And what is?"

"You know…either smaller stuff like chests and boxes or super big things like what's on the other continents. The Sinodia Castle just doesn't interest me as much."

"I see…"

"For all we know, the place could be ran by rodents, or rats as Satoshi calls them."

The blonde frowned, "That's just disturbing, I doubt it, _and_ like Satoshi said, you're hardly ever right."

"Shut up and go to sleep."

"You first."

"_You_ first."

"No way."

"Yes way."

"You might stick a furling in my face again."

"I wont!"

"What about that time you drew on our faces with muckberry juice? That took forever to get off."

"I won't!"

"I don't trust you."

"I know you don't, you don't trust anyone do you?"

"I do…just not you."

Dark pouted, "That's mean…"

"Whatever, just shut up and sleep already."

"Fine, I will!" He plopped down and closed his eyes. Krad snickered and looked over at the castle one last time before yawning and settling in the grass himself and fell asleep.

-------------------

Rotadergs:

Vile sand demons that pray on passing caravans and neighboring towns, they have tough murky green scale-like skin. Only the sharpest of blades can pierce through it, protecting them from sandstorms and such. They take on dragon-like appearances, the size of twenty men. They have acute hearing and sight but horrible sense of smell. The most distinguishable feature they have is their tails, three whip-like tails with a scale at the end of each one acting as a knife, their teeth can bite through anything.

-------------------

Reedmice:

Rodents that take on the appearance of a large tailless rat, these creatures seldom do any damage and are often kept as pets. They prey on small insects and scrapes of food that people have left behind. Seldom found in the city, the easiest place to find these lesser demons are usually found in fields of tall grass and oasis'.

-------------------

Furlings:

Dog-like demons with sharp claws and teeth, are usually on the good side of people, they're affectionate and peace-loving and when domesticated, loyal and protective of their tamers. They tend to eat lesser demons such as reedmice and tailywouds. Playful to strangers of any kind, these demons are often considered friendly and harmless; they often stay out of the way of larger demons to avoid trouble.

-------------------

Nya

A new fic :O I just had the urge to write a fantasy adventure one XP Making up names is a pain in in the neck :S For those of you who don't know what a wyvern is, it's a two-legged dragon :) Hmm...yea I gave all their riding beast thingamabobbers weird names...black wings, silvery wings, golden wings, red wings... >.>what else...yea Risa can cook, as weird as that may be...I just wanted Riku to be the demon head collector :P anything else? ...don't think so, enjoy XD


	2. Track 002

Within Castle Walls

Track002:

_Present…_

Amethyst eyes scanned the terrain below through his goggles, "Hey I see something!"

"What is it?" The blonde asked, flying beside him on his pegasus.

"A batch of cock-a-doodle-bombs."

Satoshi frowned, "How many?"

"There's five to seven, manageable enough."

The blue haired boy looked through for a moment, "Easy enough, let's go then."

The four of the swooped down and landed a bit away from the demons which were huddled together and peeping to one another. Dark smirked and pushed his goggles onto his forehead, "This seems like a good batch."

"To kill." Krad finished for him.

"Yup." Then he blinked as a sudden thought struck him, "Hey Krad…"

"Yea?"

"Since when?"

Golden eyes blinked as he set down his bow and arrows, "Since when what?"

"Since when did you start liking me?"

Krad gave him a funny look through his golden bangs, "Is this really the time to be asking that?"

"Yes." Dark replied stubbornly.

The blonde sighed and flipped his daggers a couple times before sealing them in his hilt, those were all he needed for the job, "Fine, I guess it was when…you told me, as I recall the exact words 'suck it up and live with it, there's no point in being someone else because of an excuse like that.'"

"Wasn't that when…"

"Yea, that was when we met."

He shot his friend a bubbly smile, "You still remember! I'm so happy!"

"Whatever, Daisuke, care to start us off?"

The redhead nodded and got his bow ready, "I don't understand why _you_ don't do this."

"Your aim's better."

"No it's not you liar."

The blonde gave a shrug, "Dark, remember, don't mess around this time. Last time, one almost exploded…"

"I know, I know."

Daisuke frowned and turned his attention to his friend for a moment, "And don't toss them around when we're finished."

"I know! I learn from my mistakes!"

Satoshi scoffed, "No you don't, if you did then they wouldn't have _almost_ exploded."

"_Almost_! But they didn't!"

"Because Krad sliced it up into itty bitty tiny insignificantly puny pieces. _And_ we didn't get the money for it because of _you_, it's all your fault!"

Dark huffed, "Fine, I'm not bringing to the corpse to the town then."

Blue eyes narrowed as he glared sharply at the other hunter, "You _won't_, I assure you, these aren't as big as Rotadergs, me and Daisuke will handle them."

Amethyst eyes blinked before he snorted, "Fine, be that way, Daisuke…"

The redhead nodded and got ready to fire, "Be careful, especially you, Dark."

"Yea, yea…they just look so puffy…I couldn't help it."

The archer shot the first arrow striking the first cock-a-doodle-bomb right in the brain, it slumped over dead while the others looked shaken as they turned to face them, beaks opened and ticking. Krad smirked and embedded his dagger between one of the demons' eyes. "Two down…five to go."

He looked over to see that the other two had struck three down, he turned around and killed another one. Golden eyes darted over to the last one who looked it was hyperventilating, ticking faster and faster, he was about to run to it before it had the chance to explode but an arrow beat him to it and killed the last one.

The blonde let out a small sigh of relief, it would've been nothing more than a mess if that one had exploded, "Nice shot Daisuke!" He called out and kneeled by one to cut out its heart to ensure that it was harmless while the others did the same. After all the hearts were removed excluding one, since Satoshi was dragging it back towards his griffin, he sighed and stared at his blades covered in blood, he sighed and sheathed them.

Dark walked over with a sack full of cock-a-doodle-bomb hearts, "Here, I'm not carrying this."

"Not that we'd let you…" Krad took it from the boy and passed it to the redhead, "You're carrying it."

"Why me?"

"Because next time there's something too big for you two to carry, it'll be my turn."

"True…" The redhead took the sack without further complaints.

Krad looked over at Dark, "See? _He_ doesn't make a big fuss about carrying things."

"Well _he_ didn't have green blood dripping all over him…" Dark retorted.

Daisuke and Satoshi looked over, "No, we have _red_ blood dripping all over us."

They all got onto their rides, "Where to next?"

"The nearest town."

And they were off.

-------------------

"Daisuke! Wel-come!"

"Mio-san!" The redhead greeted her cheerfully.

"What did you destroy this time?"

"Seven cock-a-doodle-bombs."

The blonde beamed, "Congrats! You just earned yourself 7 gin and 14 kin! I'll give you an extra one." She winked, "Shh, don't tell anyone."

The other three just stood around as they were ignored, Daisuke blinked, "No I couldn't…"

"Just take it! And set the corpsesdown by the door when you head out, I'll dispose of them after!"

"Thank you!"

"No problem! Be careful now! Bye bye!" The girl called after them.

On the way down the road Dark gave the redhead a nudge, "Looks like _someone's_ popular."

The redhead blinked, "Me? No way!"

Amethyst eyes twinkled as he snorted, "No…I meant _I _was popular, you're becoming a ladies man aren't you, Dai-chan." That earned him a glare from Satoshi, he cleared his throat and corrected himself, "Umm…okay, maybe not _ladies_ man, more like…just man…yea…" He ran up and caught up to Krad to avoid the blue haired boy's glare.

The blonde blinked and looked over to the commotion at the pub, "Wonder what's going on…"

Dark smirked, "That's why you walk in and find out!" And then he ran into the pub, a minute later he came back out, "It's been raining…the swamp's getting active."

"With what?"

"At the moment? There's a centipie on the loose." The three stared at him in silence, "…what?"

"A centipie? We haven't dealt with one since…last season!"

Krad paused, "Daisuke…that was only a couple months ago."

"Only?"

"I get the feeling I said the wrong thing…"

Dark grinned, "You were wrong! You were _actually_ wrong!"

The blonde didn't answer, Satoshi frowned, "Are we taking up this job?"

"Yes!" The violet haired boy voiced without a second thought.

"Sure why not…"

Daisuke grimaced, "I suppose…"

"Let's get going then, before it gets dark and before it moves."

The group of demon hunters hurried out of the town and onto their own demons and flew off, landing outside of the swamp Dark shivered, "I hate the swamp."

The blonde wrinkled his nose, "It smells like dead things."

"…like the things and people that have been _killed_ here."

He glared at his friend, "_Exactly_, since when have you gotten so smart, _Dark_? With any luck, the centipie might see you as appetizing and gobble you up."

"That's cruel Krad, you'll miss me a dreadful lot once I'm gone, I promise you that. I bet it'd rather eat people with bright colored clothes anyways. You or Daisuke I suspect, don't worry, I'll mourn over your death for weeks."

Krad sneered and cut down the vines in his path, "I hate this place…"

The redhead nodded in agreement, "Remember last time you cut down those vines…?"

"Don't remind me…having corpses of dead demon hunters fall on you doesn't help ease the anxiety."

Satoshi raised a brow, "I doubt it would…neither would looking into the water."

The blonde paled visibly, "Great…now I think I'm going to be sick…"

Even Dark put a hand to his stomach and winced at the mention of it, "It's disgusting how their bodies are preserved…"

Daisuke ran and caught up to the blonde, "Whatever, let's not talk about that…I'd hate to be here on Volarch day…"

Satoshi shuddered, "Let's not think about all these corpses and how they'd raise from the dead for the night…"

"Satoshi!"

Suddenly, they heard a scream and picked up their pace, careful not to fall into the water, Krad spoke up, "At least it's in the…cleansed area of the swamp."

"_That_ puddle of water? How can it live there?"

"Well at least there aren't bodies floating around in it!"

Dark paused, "Good point…"

When they reached the clearing, the four of them stood there, feet rooted on the ground, "Oh my god…" Krad muttered under his breath.

Daisuke looked away in disgust as the other three watched a demon hunter get devoured by the demon, his limp body snapped into an impossible angle as the demon continued to munch on him. They looked at the ground to see his weapons, there had been more than one there, an archer and a swordsman, both dead. Dark flinched as the sound of bones crunching was heard and the monster let out a low growl of satisfaction.

The blonde gulped, he was feeling nauseous already, "Let's just get this over with…"

Daisuke nodded shakily and drew his bow with shaky hands, he took careful and fired it, watching it hit the centipie right in between one of its body joints. It let out a howl and looked over at the four with an angry glare.

Dark took a deep breath and watched it charge at them, the top third of its body coming out of the water, this one hadn't matured yet, it had yet to reach its full size and was heading straight for them. Out of the corner of his eye he watched the blonde flip backwards as it charged at him and landed on the beast, he silently swore under his breath, "Shit…I didn't mean it when I said it was attracted to bright colors…"

Krad embedded his daggers between the head and first body segment, it hollered loudly and tried to fling him off. Luckily, his blades had been buried into the joint securely and he was able to hold on, he looked at the other three wondering what was taking them so long.

The two sword wielders took the cue to attack, slicing open its belly as it flailed about trying to get the blonde off. When Krad saw that the stomach had been successfully penetrated he retrieved his daggers and leapt straight up off the head, the demon looked up and roared at the blonde who now had a bow in his hands and shot an arrow down its throat killing it instantly then diving into the pool. It wasn't that deep but deep enough for him to not hit his head.

Dark grinned, "That wasn't that bad…it was just a baby, way faster than I thought. I don't get how those two guys couldn't handle this little guy..."

The blonde could feel the water splashing about as the demon fell, but he could detect that something was wrong. That one hadn't matured yet so the parent should still be…his thought were cut off when something went rushing towards him. Golden eyes widened as a demon came swimming towards him at rapid speed.

Satoshi frowned, "Why hasn't Krad surfaced yet?"

The violet haired boy too frowned, cutting off the head with one of his swords, "Yea…what's taking him, you don't think something happened to him do you?"

Suddenly the current on the lake began to change, the blue haired boy stood up, "There's something there."

Krad swam some distance before the demon had caught up to him, out of surprise he let out his breath and took in some water, choking a bit. He let out the rest of his breath when something sharp pierced his leg and began to drag him upwards. Pulling out one of his daggers, he stabbed it into the nose of it, it let our a shriek and began to zigzag up, increasing in speed. He clutched onto his dagger tightly not wanting to have his leg ripped off.

Dark stood up and stared at the water, "Something's coming up…and its got Krad!"

Golden eyes blinked a couple times as he finally reached the surface, he coughed a few times and filled his lungs with sweet sweet air, of course his leg was still clamped in the demon's jaw and in terrible pain. He winced and kicked down at its sharp teeth with his free leg, it thrashed about making him slide a bit, he bit back a scream as searing pain shot up his leg.

Satoshi bit his lip, "We can't get him while it's in the water…"

"Damnit! We have to get him! Daisuke!" The redhead nodded and took out three arrows, firing them all at once, they zinged through the air and hit the demon in the stomach, all three of them. It hissed and shook about even more violently. "Keep shooting!"

Krad panted as he drew out his other dagger and sliced open the demon's gums, it let out another hiss of pain and bit harder causing him to groan in pain. Then more arrows were shot and he managed to get his dagger to cut across its eye causing it to go blind in one eye. It tried to shake him off without letting go of his leg, the blonde hissed feeling blood run down his leg.

Daisuke frowned and got out his silver tipped arrow and shot it, it went up the back of the demon's head, right up the scales and into its skull, it shrieked and fell over thrashing, letting the blonde go. Krad hit the water with a splash, Dark's eyes widened as he watched his friend fall. "Krad!"

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Cock-a-doodle-bombs:

Chick-like minor demons, has the appearance of a yellow fluff ball with small black eyes and a beak along with short legs, it's got no wings therefore can't do much besides walk around and peck at things off the ground. They usually travel in batches of 4-8; the cock-a-doodle-bomb's body is mainly made up of its heart which acts as a bomb. When frightened, it will automatically start ticking away and before it explodes, it makes a loud 'cock-a-doodle-**boom**' thus earning it its name. The only way to kill them without having them blow up would be to slice or shoot their brain and nothing but the brain, but even when dead, the cock-a-doodle-bomb's heart can still be triggered by a hard impact, making them, very dangerous. After they're killed the heart is usually made into explosives and sold in markets.

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Centipies:

Powerful swamp monsters with the body of a large centipede, the head is one similar to a dragon's only flatter and less majestic. The body when matured can go up to half a mile long, it preys on anythingthat can fit into its mouth, it usually lives underwater but can go on land when it has to. It's equipped with a large tail to propel through the water at immense speed and 700-1000 legs on its body, the scales on its body are nearly impossible to penetrate except for the area between sections of the body and the stomach. The young usually stay with its father while the mother simply leaves after it's born, it'll stay with its parent until it's old enough to fend for itself, then the father will simply fight it off and force it out of its territory, seeing its own young as an intruder. The only way to kill it would be to slit open its stomach or to get the head and neck. The scales can be turned into powerful armour and shields.

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Nya

Here's the next chapter! Tomorrow's Halloween :D So I'll update _something_ tomorrow :) Yes Hio Mio's another demon head collector person thingy... Thanks to **Koway Oceshia **for being the first reviewer :D **Hakudoshi-chan**for being second and **Zy-chan** for being third! XD

And to answer some questions to answer...this is like a quiz that I know all the answers to...or that I could make up an answer and it'd still be right! XD

(**Koway Oceshia**) Yes Risa can cook...I know it seems queer but oh well, _someone_ needs to be able to cook in that town... >.>

(**Hakudoshi-chan**) The information/descriptions for the demons, I just make them up, you know they're like those strange little creatures that just float in my head so I decided to make up names for them and put them in as demons XD Then I just make up a description of how the look like and stuff to explain...what they are :)

(**Daishi**) The demon head collector peoples things collect the heads or bodies (demon hunters are required to bring the wholecorpse thingwhen possible) and send them off to people who use the corpse thingermabob and turn it into something useful :D Like...a rotaderg's tail could be turned into a whip/weapon thing...I kinda suck at explaining but oh well XP

Anymore questions, just ask and I'll try my best to answer them XD Thank yous to everyone else who reviewed! X3 And thanks for r&r-ing...that's not a word is it? >.>


	3. Track 003

Within Castle Walls

Track003:

Krad gave a gasp as he hit the water, he tried to move only to be paralyzed with pain, he winced and looked at his leg to find blood stained water.

The amethyst eyed boy frowned and dived into the water without a moment's hesitation to find the blonde letting out his breath. He swam over as fast as he could and grabbed the other hunter by the waist and swam upwards. As they broke through to the surface, he heard Krad give a gasp and cough a couple times. When he finally managed to drag them back to the shore the blonde flinched and looked at his leg, "Crap…"

The redhead ran to the blonde's side, "Krad? Are you alright?"

Krad gave a pained sigh, "Do I look alright?"

"Aside from your bleeding leg and the fact that you're soaking wet, you look perfectly fine to me."

Golden eyes glared at the redhead, "When you least expect it, you'll find a rat sleeping in your shirt."

Daisuke laughed, "Sure, let's get that leg bandaged up."

And so, the younger two ended up dragging the large centipie head out of the swamp while Dark helped the crippled Krad hobble out, "You think you can handle riding your pegasus? You know you can ride with me if you want."

Krad snorted, "I'm not that weak, this is just a scratch."

"A scratch that could've torn your whole leg off…"

"…but a scratch nonetheless."

Dark smirked and helped the blonde onto the winged horse before dragging the head with him to his wyvern, "You're going to have to bring the head twice after this you know…"

"Shut up."

Satoshi frowned, "Where are we going?"

"To see Towa-chan of course."

"Isn't that the healer that overreacts to everything?"

"Yup…and we better get there soon before Krad dies from blood loss."

"Honestly, I think I'd be happier just sitting here bleeding to death."

The hunter gave him a funny look, amethyst eyes twinkled in amusement, "Nonsense! I will not have any of _my _teammates bleeding to death for any reason…with the possible exception of the creep."

Blue eyes narrowed, "If you're not careful, the next person to be bleeding to death will be you…you better watch your back."

----------------

On the way to the town Krad frowned, "Can't we just leave my leg the way it is?"

"We still have to hunt tomorrow Krad…"

"I know but still…remember when you showed her your shoulder?"

Dark grinned, "Yea, she threw me out of the house for flashing her."

"…I don't want to get kicked out of the house…"

"Don't worry, I'll go with you, if she kicks us out at least there'll be something to land on."

"How…touching…who's landing on who?"

-------------------

And so, they landed outside of town, Dark ended up carrying the blonde over to a house nearby while the younger two went to trade in the head, "Why are you carrying me?"

"Because I don't feel like having you walk with a messed up leg."

"It's not messed up!"

"No, it's a very slim and muscular sexy leg that's _momentarily_ messed up."

When they reached the house a girl ran through the doors happily, "Dark! Krad! Hello! I had a feeling you'd be coming! I saw you through the window!" The two blinked, the gray haired girl blinked, "Oh my…did you two get married?"

Krad blushed, "No!"

"Krad just got bitten by a centipie and now he can't walk."

"Oh…come on in then! I'll fix you right now!"

-------------------

"Stupid Dark…" Satoshi growled while dragging the oversized head behind him.

"Well he went to escort Krad so isn't that a worthy excuse?"

"No!"

"Oh…"

"The only _worthy_ excuse I can think of right now would be that he got flung onto the unknown continent and couldn't make it back here in time."

"But that's impossible…"

"Exactly."

"How can anyone have that good an aim as to fling Dark _onto_ the unknown continent? And who would want to fling Dark there anyways? If they wanted him dead they could just feed him to some rabid furling or something."

Satoshi blinked stupidly, "…erm…okay…"

-------------------

"Just wait for a moment and I'll get your leg fixed right up!"

Krad sat down on a bed, still soaking wet, he frowned at his ripped pants, sighing he cut off half the pant leg to give the wound some air. "I'm goi-"

"Ahhhh! You pervert!"

Wide golden eyes looked up, "Wha?"

"Trying to take advantage of me in my confused state are you? Is Dark not enough for you now? My virgin eyes! Keep your pants on! I'm not interested despite how wickedly handsome and charming you are but you have to be loyal to Dark!"

"What? Tow-" The girl ran out of the room babbling incoherently, Krad blinked in confusion, eyes still wide, "…what about my leg…?"

-------------------

Daisuke tossed the bag of money up and down while Satoshi walked beside him shoulders slumping, tired from having to carry something so heavy, "Do you think Krad's alive?"

The blue haired boy frowned, "Who knows. Towa might've ran out on him…again…"

-------------------

"Towa-chan? What happened?"

"Tell your boyfriend to hide his well built body from my sight!"

Dark opened the door to see a very baffled Krad sitting staring at him with widened eyes there while Towa remained as insane as ever, he gave a sheepish grin, "…on the bright side, she didn't throw you out of the house…"

-------------------

"What's taking them so long?"

"Maybe Towa threw them out of the house."

"Come on, we should go check on them."

Daisuke laughed, "Wow Satoshi, I never knew you cared about them."

"I don't, but _someone _has to carry those stupid demon heads…"

As they reached the healer's house they could hear crashes and headed in to hear Dark trying to calm Towa down.

"Put down the knife Towa, you're here to heal, not kill…that's right, put down the knife. There, now can you heal Krad's leg? Whoa! Put down the knife!"

The two burst through the door to find Krad sitting on a bed, pressing himself against the wall panting with his eyes very wide and possibly fearful while Dark took the knife out of the healer's hands. "What was she trying to do?"

The blonde looked over, "S-she said I needed stitches…"

"And…"

"I said no so she took a knife and told me she would see to it that I needed them…"

The younger two looked over at the healer again, "…wow. I'm scared…"

-----------------

"That wasn't so bad was it? We didn't get kicked out of the house."

Krad frowned as he sat on his pegasus which was trotting along with the other three, "Aside from nearly having my leg cut open by some mad…person."

"Makes you wonder how she can run a business so well…"

The blonde nodded in agreement, "I'm surprised she has a business at all if she's going to threaten to cut up all her patients…"

"You'll go bald faster if you hold grudges."

Krad blinked before petting his ponytail over his shoulder, Satoshi sighed, "Looks like a hotel night tonight." Dark cheered, "Shut up Dark, you better get well soon Krad."

"Hey, that's not within my control."

"Well then…_will_ yourself to get better then."

The blonde huffed, "Go drown yourself."

-------------------

It was the middle of the night when there was a shriek from outside that woke the four of them up instantly. They rushed to the window, Satoshi looked up, "It's a torie!"

Dark frowned as he strapped his cloak on and pulled his goggles down over his eyes, "What the hell's a torie doing here?

The four of them grabbed their weapons and made their way outside, "Krad? What are you doing out here?"

"What does it look like Daisuke? I have a bow and arrows with me. I hurt my leg, not my arms."

"All we have to do is kill it right?"

"Dark, you're such an idiot sometimes."

Satoshi raised a brow, "Don't you mean all the time?"

Krad shrugged, "That works too, it's illegal to kill a torie."

"Why?"

"Because they'll all die off if we kill them?"

Dark frowned, "What's so bad about that?"

"They eat demons."

"Oh…well then…what now?"

"We need to scare it off you retard."

Violet eyes blinked, "Okay…what are they afraid of? Bugs?"

Satoshi looked over boredly, "As easy as it is to compare you to some stupid demon right now and have the demon look better than you, I won't…just because we're in the middle of something here, maybe later. Anyways, Dark, that's a _torie_, that's not _you_ up there flying around terrorizing people. If that was _you _up there, I'd have no problem killing it."

"You know, you could've just said no."

"Guys?"

"Why would I when you left it wide open to insult you?"

"…guys…"

"Most people would resist the urge to!"

Krad frowned and took a shot, narrowly missing the demon, it shrieked and backed away from the two. "Watch it you two!"

Dark rolled his eyes as he backed up, "This is your fault you know…"

"We'll continue this, _afterwards_."

"I suggest paying attention to where the target is before you two lose your heads."

The two leapt away as the torie swooped down once more, Dark frowned and took a slash at it causing it to flap its large wings to fly upwards, creating somewhat a miniature dust storm around the hunters. Amethyst narrowed as icy blue clenched shut, waiting for the dust to settle, "Dark! Satoshi! Look out!"

Suddenly there was a blast of fire that hit the bird demon and disappeared, the torie gave a terrified shriek and flew away. Once the dust had settled, the two could see the blonde staring bewilderedly at the redhead, "Daisuke…did you just summon up fire?"

Wide ruby eyes blinked, "…did I?" Then he collapsed on the ground.

Satoshi frowned and ran to the redhead's aid, he scooped him up, "I'm taking him back inside."

Dark nodded, "Alright, goodnight. We'll see you in the morning." The blue haired boy nodded and disappeared through the door, "Well that was interesting wouldn't you say?" Then the grateful townsmen appeared, but the hunter dismissed them with a wave of a hand and a grin, "We can talk about this in the morning, no? I'm afraid we're all very tired from today's events."

The townsmen nodded eagerly and smiled and thanked them once more before retreating to their sanctuary for rest. "Let's go onto the roof…" A quiet voice spoke up from beside him.

He looked over, "Not tired? You should be the most tired out of the four of us…"

The blonde shook his head, "Not really…"

"Alright then…" He helped the other up the stairs onto the inn's roof where they sat there, "You can see all of the moons tonight…"

Golden eyes flickered up at the three glowing orbs in the sky, "Yea…"

The two chatted silently for a bit, the blonde's voice grew softer and softer, Dark knew he was making an effort to stay awake, "…how's your leg?" No response. "Krad?" Something was leaning against his shoulder, he looked over and found the blonde asleep, he smiled and wrapped his arm around the other's waist, before turning his gaze back to the moons, "Goodnight…"

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Tories:

A very large bird, resembles a Golden Eagle only with a lighter brown for feathers. They prey on smaller demons and dwell about cliffs and deep within old forests. They rarely come into contact with humans aside from when they or their territory is threatened or when their young has been taken away.

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Nya

Whooo another chapter of this fic! Towa's quite mad isn't she? XP What else do I have to say...? Hmmm...I forgot so I suppose I'll just yea...go...bye! Enjoy!


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